Rich, Helen.

Helen Rich was born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota on August 9, 1894. She studied to be a teacher, but became a newspaper reporter. After being wrongly diagnosed with tuberculosis, she moved to Colorado for her health and worked as the first woman reporter for the Colorado Springs Telegraph. Rich freelanced across the country and in France. With a friend, she bought an old car and travelled west to Colorado Springs. In 1937, Rich and fellow poet/author, Belle Turnbull, moved to Frisco, Colorado and then Breckenridge, Colorado. Rich worked as a social worker for the Department of Public Welfare of Summit County. In 1947, Rich published The Spring Begins a novel which became a bestseller, and in 1950 published another novel The Willow Bender. In 1959, Rich retired and spent the next ten years working on an unpublished novel based upon the Silverheels legend. Rich died in Breckenridge on November 14, 1971.